Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Adam West, the *original* Batman

This news from Topless Robot is so awesome I'm just going to quote it verbatim. The headline is "Adam West puts the cowl back on," and the piece continues thusly:

That would be in an upcoming Batman: Brave and the Bold episode, in which he plays Bruce Wayne's father Thomas. How does West playing Poppa Wayne constitute him becoming Batman again, you ask? Is Bricken going for a wholly misleading article title trifecta? No I am not. From Comic Book Resources:

The episode will feature the story in which Thomas went to a costume party dressed as a bat and defeated mobsters.

If that's not awesome enough for you, it's worth noting that Martha Wayne, his wife, will be voiced by Julie Newmar. FUCK AND YES.

I don't recall specifically which issue of which Bat title, but I do remember a comic that had a story line along that lines. Something about Bruce finding his fathers stored "bat" costume and how Bruce ends up wearing to confront a criminal.

It was indeed! The story was called "The First Batman", and appeared in the mid-fifties. It's been reprinted many times before (I first read it in one of the hardcover collections published by Crown Publishers in the early 70s), and most recently referenced in Grant Morrison's run on Batman.

Two things: I love BATB and am using it to introduce my 7YO son to Batman. So far, I've got moderate attention from him.

Second, the reason I'm using BATB to introduce Bats to him is that the Adam West Batman TV show is not being broadcast on TV anywhere (that I know of). West was how I learned who Batman was, then, I went to the comics.